The Sleeper In The Tomb - DnD 5e

The Game, Science, Magic and Religion

The gods play dice…

Their playing board is the mortal Realm… the other planes of the Multiverse (Faewyld/Underdark/Elemental Chaos/Eternal Sea etc) seem only moderatly under their control, but Mortals have known the gods rule their lives for millennia.

That changed with the Elves. When the Elves came to the Realm half a millennia or more ago, they worshiped the gods like superior variations of themselves, rather than out-right majesties… 150 years ago, the underdark war brought in magical energies and rational-natural-science methods that promised mortals far more power over their world, and power to rival even gods.

That said, mortal life still revolves around their gods. Crops can and do fail if the correct worships are not made, and the god in question roles poorly in his games. Equally, great heroes can command epic powers beyond mortal ken if they devote themselves to the service of a god that plays the divine games well.

In this way agriculture, construction, and technology used to have an exclusive divine nature to them. To some extent they still do, although a couple of centuries ago, the mortal races decided to fight fire with fire in the Underdark War… they adopted the magic of the Drow (aided by the Elves) and the technology and science of the Goblins (aided by the minds of the Gnomes and the skills of the dwarves).

Post war, most settlements run on a combination of simple iron-age technology, applied magical thaumaturgy, and the application (often binding) of divine power.

The Gods don’t require believing in, they are able to smite you with fire regardless of your belief… non the less, there is a movement away from the mortal races being mere pawns in the games of divinity and making themselves kings!

((Game wise: all characters should have some religious convictions, either comforting or offending… technology like crossbows, and magic like wizard wield is only a few generations old!))